Chapter 174 – The Encounter (2)

The two looked at each other.

‘!!!!’

They couldn’t help but wonder. They were two people who hadn’t met even once in 17 years.

But the moment their eyes met, Mumu and Hae Ha-rang felt as if everything around them had slowed down. Perhaps it was something like an instinct.

Mumu had red eyes and his nose was crinkling. He couldn’t shy away from the emotion he was feeling for the first time in his life.

And then Hae Ha-rang said with trembling lips,

“Na… name?”

Her voice was trembling, but she was expecting something. There was a feeling of surety.

Mumu who wouldn’t easily open his lips due to his pounding heart said,

“Mumu… it is Mumu.”

Before he even finished fully saying it, tears began to pour out of her eyes.

Biting onto her lip with a reddened face, this felt like a complete lie. Could this be a dream?

Or did she just step into heaven where her child was?

Drop

At that time, tears poured down the face of Mumu. He couldn’t fake this feeling.

Mumu, with his heart pounding loudly, said in a weeping voice,

“A… are you my mom?”

Tatatak

In response to those words, Hae Ha-rang ran to Mumu. She embraced the son who was much bigger than her. She hugged him and cried.

“My kid. My child. My body. I am your mom. I am your mom.”

“Mom…?”

“Mom. Mom.”

Mumu wasn’t sure what to do with his stretched out arms, but he wiggled his fingers before he hugged her and he said tearfully,

“Mom…”

“My child. Mom is sorry. I am sorry. Uhhhhh.”

‘Sorry for letting you grow up alone. Sorry that I wasn’t a mother who was always by your side. Sorry for being a bad mother.’

There were so many things she wanted to apologize for, but she couldn’t say any of it at all.

It was the same for Mumu.

The two of them pulled each other close and cried.

Hae Ha-rang, who missed her son even in her dreams hoped this wasn’t a dream.

Clench

Biting onto her lip, she felt pain. Right, this was no dream.

This was real.

Knowing this, her lips twitched with a teary face. She had never smiled this widely in the last 17 years of sadness and sorrow.

‘Ahhh…’

There was a tall man watching this from afar.

It was Seo Yong-chu. His eyes watched the mother and child reunite.

He covered his eyes with his large hand.

-Why are you making such a sad face every day? Follow me so you can smile like this.

‘I thought I would never see you again.’

Despite being covered in tears she was so beautiful. A tear could be seen flowing down his hand covering the face of Seo Yong-chu.

The hot tears flowed down fast as he smiled.

‘…’

Hong Hwa-ryun couldn’t see. But after the tearful meeting of the mother and child, he felt moved.

It was because it was a human thing.

‘What have I done?’

He was thrilled at the end of the meeting but he regretted what he did.

He felt that everything he did was simply futile. If he hadn’t dropped Mumu off, a reunion like this wouldn’t have happened.

‘Foolish of me.’

As a father with a child, he felt extreme guilt at his actions. He felt heartbroken at the thought that he did something unhuman-like.

In response, he raised his internal energy.

He decided to cut his head at that moment.

“Mister!”

Someone stopped him.

Hong Hwa-ryun was surprised at it and turned his head.

The voice was from Muah. He was surprised at it.

“Muah!”

Hae Ha-rang, who was hugging Mumu, became confused at the situation where her adopted son came up.

At that time, Muah looked at her and Mumu and Hong Hwa-ryun, and ran for Hong Hwa-ryun

“Mister, why are you doing this?”

“… Muah.”

“Who the hell made you do this? To kill yourself?”

Muah who came late was confused at this. Hong Hwa-ryun was injured and wanted to kill himself, and his mother who never smiled was now hugging a boy his age.

He couldn’t understand this.

“Mother, Mister is committing suicide! What happened? That… that guy who…”

“Muah.”

Rather Hong Hwa-ryun called for him and shook his head.

“Mister?”

“… All of this happened because of my mistake.”

“Uh?”

“That kid over there, he is your older brother.”

Muah’s face turned hard at this. He never heard about a brother until now.

However, the expression on his mother’s face was too heartbreaking to know. It was a face she had never showed him.

“Just how…”

“Muah.”

Hae Ha-rang called him.

“Mother, what is this? Why is this…”

“Calm down so that I can tell you everything.”

“I-I want to calm down too but mother…”

It was hard.

Looking at him like that, she felt bad. She forgot because of the joy of meeting her son, but she didn’t think of what was to come next.

It was a harsh thing for Muah right now.

So thinking about it, she said,

“Listen. Muah… to the story before you were ever born.”

“…”

Muah, who wanted to know everything, just stayed silent.

Thud!

Muah, whose legs felt weak, knelt on the ground. Learning the whole truth, he felt horrible.

‘H-how can this…’

There were too many shocking things. Growing up, there were times she didn’t speak of his father.

No matter how many times he asked, his mother would never say anything about him, she would just say that he was a great man, one who worked to make the family proud.

But he didn’t think such a truth was being hidden.

‘Then… mother is my aunt.’

It was confusing.

It was painful, and he hated that the truth had been kept hidden from him until now, but he couldn’t blame her.

It was because the moment he heard the pain she went through, he realized why she always looked down.

‘How… how did she endure?’

Her life was so difficult and full of sadness. Even after losing the child and family she endured it all.

Shh!

Muah turned to Hong Hwa-ryun.

The moment he saw him, his heart broke. Until now, he thought of the man as his teacher and wished for him to be his father.

‘Ahh…’

Now he knew why his mother, his aunt didn’t like him.

He was the person who stole everything for her. How hard it must have been for her to look at this man?

‘I…’

He felt so immature.

Knowing nothing, he wanted the man as his father. But all the happiness he got was because of the sacrifices that his mother or aunt had made.

‘But…’

It felt strange.

He hated Hong Hwa-ryun but didn’t hate him at the same time.

He found out the man lost his eyes to atone and was ready to die at any time.

‘Why did these things happen…’

Muah felt bad about this reality.

But he felt sorry for his aunt, Mumu, and Hong Hwa-ryun.

While he was feeling it, Hong Hwa-ryun said,

“I have sinned against you. Even if I have ten mouths, I have no reason to give. So I will take the chance and let karma take me.”

With those words he held the blade again. Muah was shocked and wanted to say no, but he didn’t.

It was because Hae Ha-rang shouted first.

“Stop!”

Muah turned to her.

It was the same for Hong Hwa-ryun. He thought that with her lost son being found, she would have no reason to stop him.

Or did she want him to die in the hands of her son?

“If you want to do it, you can do it with your hands.”

“No.”

But she shook her head, and holding the hand of Mumu, she said,

“Mumu. Will you listen to the request of mom?”

At her words he smiled.

“I will give mom anything that she wants.”

To which she felt a bit sorry and said to Hong Hwa-ryun,

“I cannot forgive you for what you did to Mumu and I. But when you could have turned away from it, you chose to face me and atone for it.”

“…”

“I don’t think there was lies in your heart when you paid with your eyes.”

“Lady Hae… I deserve to die…”

“The reason you wanted to atone was for the son you threw off the cliff. But that child is back in my arms.”

Clench

She held Mumu’s hand tightly.

She was happy to have gotten her lost son back.

Hae Ha-rang told him.

“I do not hate you. Because you prevented me from taking my life, whether intended or not, I got to see my child because of that.”

“…”

“So head back.”

“Lady Hae?”

“I have no desire to do to your daughter what had been done to me.”

‘!?’

At her words, he clenched his chest.

The woman said she would never forgive him, but her words touched his heart.

He was willing to give up his life and pay for what he did, but the only thing which scared him was his daughter.

And so he continued to suffer, but this woman broke the chain of it.

‘Hwa-ryun… you foolish guy. You don’t know about the workings of the world any more than the woman who wanted to lead herself and didn’t even learn martial arts.’

“Lady Hae…”

He felt thrilled at this, and Mumu said,

“You heard. Mom said she would let you go, so I want nothing.”

“…”

“But this is a warning. If you touch me or my mother one more time, I will destroy not just you, but the entire Murim lands.”

Crack!

Pang!

A huge explosion rang in his ears, from a great force.

Gulp!

Hearing this, Hong Hwa-ryun gulped.

It was for just a second, but he knew. There will be no one in the world who can stop this man.

Even if he and the other Four Great Warriors went into closed training for a hundred years, it would still be impossible.

‘Invincible…’

Right—

He was Invincible Mumu.